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| commons.wikimedia.org |
Teams of archaeologists have
found a mammoth jaw bone and a rare piece
of amber deep under London. It's hard to imagine a time when wild animals
populated an area once considered the greatest city in the world.
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| www.londontourist.org |
Excavations for
London's Crossrail project have unearthed bodies believed to date from the time
of the
Black Death. A burial ground
was known to be in an area outside the City of London, but its exact location
remained a mystery. From the remains, they will uncover information about the
population and the individuals. In addition, the bodies may contain DNA from
the bacteria responsible for the plague, helping modern epidemiologists track
the development and spread of differing strains of a pathogen that still exists
today.
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| history.howstuffworks.com |
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| www.history.com |
One of the most devastating pandemics in human history, the Black Death raged
in Europe between 1348 to 1350 and killed between 75 and 200 million people. Oriental
rat fleas were thought to have
carried the plague on merchant ships.
Archaeologists working
for The Museum of London and Crossrail are taking every care with the test
sites. The 73-mile high-speed rail link is due to open in 2018. Taken together,
the project's 40 sites comprise one of the UK's largest archaeological
ventures. They have found artifacts from periods ranging from the very ancient
prehistoric right up to a 20th-Century industrial site.
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| www.skyscrapercity.com |
When I first arrived in London
from Australia in 1987, a huge culture shock awaited. Instead of the wide,
clean streets of Adelaide, history and culture smacked me in the face. Along streets
scattered with litter, and crowded with jostling people wearing the colorful
costumes of every different nationality, I gazed awe-struck at the ancient
architecture. I follow every new discovery into the history of London with the interest
of an explorer.
